Popular Nollywood actor, Chiwetalu Agu, often acts the role of a
wicked man in movies. And his depictions are so real that many fans believe
that is his real character. In this chat with Showtime Celebrity, he explains
that the negative reaction of fans towards his wicked roles is what actually
led him into acting comic roles. Excerpts…
You seem to have an affinity for comedies; why is that?
I wouldn’t call it affinity. Years ago, I found out that most of
the scripts that were brought to me didn’t have comic relief; I was always
given roles of a wicked man and I got to understand that most of my fans were
not pleased with it. Some of them felt it was something real, and the
consequence was that whenever I stepped out in public, I was caught in
embarrassing situations. I then decided to be infusing comic relief even when
I’m playing wicked characters because I’m a veteran screen writer. In the
early 80s, we were operating in NTA Enugu, which was formerly Anambra
Television Channel 50, so the talent is there, and I combined it with the
wicked roles they were giving me. The result is that when you are watching me
play a wicked role, you will still have cause to laugh, and ease your tension.
In fact, I have achieved a lot by doing that.
Can you share instances when
fans reacted to you with the belief that you’re a wicked man?
They have done daring things. Some of their actions look like
attacks, but with my experience as an entertainer, I will say I saw all that
coming, so I was able to manage all of them very well. But one day, while I was
on Onitsha ‘Head Bridge’ on my way to Asaba, there was this traffic snarl
that made us come out of the car. One fan came to hail me and slap me on the
shoulder in the course of appraising my unique style of acting. Some other
persons cautioned him, and he fired back by saying, ‘Don’t you know this man is
my all-in-all? He makes me happy; whenever I’m not happy, I just slot in his
movie, and I become happy.’ That was an embarrassing incident, but I saw it
coming because that was the period I was playing evil diabolical roles.
However, I also touch lives, because sometimes when we shoot movies, it’s like
we’re telling some people’s life story. You know, talking about what happens in
various families where wicked uncles deal with their nephews and things like
that. But like I said earlier, I thank God that I have found a way of getting
people to laugh at the same time they watch me play wicked roles.
Is there any role you would love to play that you’ve not had the
opportunity to?
I am planning my own production outfit, and the name of my
company is Chukwuwetalu Films. By the grace of God, when we take off, I’m going
to be playing roles such as a true man of God, a romantic figure, and other
characters that people haven’t really seen me portray. My fan clubs all over
the world will then have the opportunity to see me doing well in those areas.
Some people say that Nigerian actors are not properly trained;
what do you have to say about that?
We can’t do without film schools. There should be regular
workshops where actors will be trained and retrained because all we have been
doing mostly came from no background. But I will still commend our people
because without a solid background, they have been able to prove their mettle,
and I know that everything is going to improve in terms of acting when these
schools start working and people go there on regular basis to get trained. It
will help the industry grow better.
Recently,
a picture of you grabbing the boobs of an actress, Anita Joseph, on a movie set
went viral; what really happened?
They are my daughters. It
was a story, and we were playing our roles. Maybe you didn’t have time to watch
that movie to understand what was going on. The main character in that movie
was Ini Edo who was rascally, and more of a tom-boy. If she fought with my
daughters, she would defeat them, so I did everything to prepare strong grounds
for them to overpower her, but it wasn’t possible. So I said since that failed,
let’s look for another way to prepare them to live their lives, so that any
suitor who sees them will fall in love and marry them. That way, they will be
useful since they failed in fighting a common enemy. The scene that went viral
was where I was dressing them up for a burial ceremony that was coming up where
I expected men to see them, and to find them attractive enough to take as
wives. You know women’s bust plays a very big role in attracting any man who
comes as a suitor, but people who wanted sensation made the picture go viral to
sell their media. If I tell you now that I help some children in the motherless
baby’s home, it may not be as sensational as when they say that I raped a
minor.
But how does your wife react to
scenes like that?
If I have up to one
million fans, my wife will be number one. The greatest joy she derives is
watching me act; no matter how negative the role is, because she is the only
person that knows me better than anyone else since we live together. She knows
how gentle and wonderful I am. She also knows how philanthropic I am because I
always love to help humanity. So when she sees me in those kinds of scenes, she
knows I’m just acting. Each time I churn out a catch-phrase, byline or slogan,
she laughs so hard that even the person who is one mile away will hear the
sound. She doesn’t find anything I do in films embarrassing at all; the reverse
is the case.
You mean she even tells you to
do it better if she feels it’s not good enough?
Yes, she chips in her own
advice on how to make my acting more comical. She knows I’m a very strong comic
character; comedy is in my nature, and that is the first thing that makes her
happy that I’m her husband. There are some husbands that always have hard
countenances, and their wives fear them, but I’m not like that. As far as I’m
concerned, she is my biggest fan.
Is any of your children taking
after you?
My second son is comical
in nature. At times, he goes out of his way to wear women’s dress to make
caricature out of some ideas. Then my first son; each time I return from
anywhere, he greets me with the slogan of my last movie he watched. One of my
daughters is a fashion designer, and whenever she dresses herself up, she looks
more attractive and fashionable than any other girl of her age. The creative
nature runs in the family and I’m sure that when they all come out of school,
they are going to fit into my company because it’s going to be a conglomerate
by God’s grace, producing many titles, including comedy, tragedy, and
many others. I’m also going to be involved in distributing directly to houses
and offices.
So you encourage them to take
it serious?
Why not? Their school
fees come from what I’m doing, their feeding, and everything about their
welfare comes from this. They have shown the flair already; all I have to do is
encourage them.
How do you intend to surmount
piracy with your company?
I believe that the
biggest problem in the industry is piracy. About five years ago, I went to
NIPOST in course of carrying out a survey on how to make marketing work and
beat piracy. I bought a book called post codes from NIPOST, and it contains all
the street codes and numbers in Nigeria. After that, I went to the National
Population Commission (NPC), Abuja, to get two of their books which contained
records ending 2006. When I start my company, my subscribers, who will be up to
50million, will be paying into a designated account. Whenever anybody pays, the
official vehicles of my company, will deliver the consignment either to the
person’s house or office wherever they are in the country. The movies will not
be sold on the open market, so if you see it in the open market, everybody will
know it’s a pirated copy.
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